What does Eritrea do against causes of flight?

Even if fewer refugees are currently arriving in Germany, thousands of people are still on the way to Europe via the Mediterranean. Recently, it is mainly people from Africa, a particularly large number comes from Eritrea. In view of the number of refugees, the Federal Government wants to fight the causes of the escape on the ground. But what does this look like in practice in Eritrea?

Eritrea is not only one of the poorest, but one of the most isolated countries in the world. Foreign politicians or journalists are seldom left in the country. The leadership in the capital city of Asmara avoids almost every external communication, even diplomats on the ground are not allowed to move freely in the country.

”There is no democracy in Eritrea”

Eritrea is a black box, says Niema Movassat. He is sitting for the left in the Development Assistance Committee of the Bundestag: ”What we know is that there is a forced service there, which means that every Eritrean between 18 and 50 years has to do a so-called military service , Which means they are drafted and do not know how long it takes to land, not only in the military, but also in a quarry or as a teacher, and Eritrea is definitely a country Everyone agrees, in which no freedom of opinion prevails, no freedom of assembly, no democracy. ”That is why Germany had stopped developing aid in 2007. However, because there are no more refugees from any African country, the federal government is also trying to get closer to the government in Eritrea.

People on the spot need perspective

Günter Nooke, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Africa commissioner, says: ”The only meaningful translation of this is: How can we give people in Africa a perspective, and even in such a difficult and dictatorial environment as Eritrea? To be our interest, to start and accelerate a development for the better. ”However, this should benefit the people and not stabilize the rule of the regime. The regime would like to redirect the money directly to its accounts or to put it in prestige projects of the President.

First projects in progress

Günter Nooke says: ”This is a matter of vocational training, vocational schools, and we have an old project that we want to reactivate in the harbor town of Massaba on the Red Sea The water supply for this city and the disposal of waste water.This is also a project that can help, of course, that in a region where tourism is actually possible, hotels might work better, or that it becomes possible at all Times a reasonable hotel to build, which then has corresponding standards. ”The fact that only one Eritreer left his country less, is therefore doubted by the critics of this cooperation. A real improvement for the Eritrean people is not achieved, says the left-wing politician Niema Movassa: ”My impression is that Eritrea is less about fighting causes of escape Wants to work with the Eritrean regime to stop refugees. ”

200 million euros from the EU

There are many options to control and control immigration, according to the so-called Khartum process. The country will receive 200 million euros from the European Union by 2020.A part of the funds is intended for the so-called ”Better Migration Management”. Behind it lies a more effective border surveillance, a project in which the official German development aid organization GIZ is also strongly committed.